Sensome, a France-based micro-sensor technology developer spun out of École Polytechnique, raised €4.7m ($5.4m) in a seed round on Monday from investors including the Paris-Saclay Seed Fund.
The round was led by VC firm Kurma Diagnositcs, while ID Invest and assorted angel investors also participated. The Paris-Saclay Seed Fund was launched in January 2017 with €50m in capital to back spinouts of Paris-Saclay University, a multi-institution cluster.
Sensome, originally known as Instent, has developed micro-sensors for medical devices to reliably identify biological tissue. The sensors communicate wirelessly outside the body, with machine learning algorithms providing predictive real-time analysis.
The company’s first product integrates the sensors with a guidewire for the treatment of ischemic stroke, which occurs when a brain blood vessel is blocked by clot and causes millions of brain cells to die per minute.
Sensome’s device will enable surgeons to decide which tool will be most efficient to deal with the clot, depending on its composition.
The spinout was co-founded by Abdul Barakat, professor at the Hydrodynamics Laboratory at École Polytechnique, and Frank Bozsak, now chief executive of Sensome.
Bozsak said: “This seed round allows us to prepare first-in-human testing of our neurovascular product next year and to enter the stroke space.
“The connected stroke guidewire will finally provide physicians with the information they need to reduce procedure times. This first smart product with Sensome inside will pave the way for future devices integrating our technology for the benefit of patients.”